Skip to main content

Reading Notes- Mahabharata, Part B

House of Fire by unknown. 

Part B of the Mahabharata was very much focused on family and the sacrifices that family members make. Compared to be Part A, this part was much easier to understand since the names and characters were all clear. They also had fewer characters, I think, than Part A so it was easier to process and enjoy. I used the stories based on the public domain of the Mahabharata. 

The first story I'd like to focus on is called "House of Fire". I really enjoyed this story, probably more than I expected. The descriptions of the house touched something in my heart and I'm not quite sure why. The picture I got in my head of beautiful tapestry soaked in oil reminded me parts of childhood. I think the picture that was included was also helpful in conceptualizing exactly how the family escaped. Instead of the idea of miracles helping characters escape, this story was more based around logic and escaping the palace in a strategic way. I also got a real feel of what Prince Bhima is. This was his introduction to be more than just a baby. He is not portrayed as the wisest but he is shown to be the leader of the family. He heads his mother's positioning on this often, as that is shown even more in the later stories. As for the escape itself, I think it was kind of brilliant. I think most stories have the main characters strategize a way of whatever place they are kept in. For this family, not only was the escape on someone else's part, they got away kind of scotfree. There just happening to be another family of the same size and gender being at the palance and getting killed was a fortunate ending that the family doesn't even know about. The dramatic irony is not something that is common in any of the Indian Epics I have read so far and find it quite refreshing. 

The second story I really enjoyed was the story of "Vaka". This obviously poor family was another reflection of a family unit in the climate of the Mahabharata. Instead of pushing a child or husband to go as the blood sacrifice, each family member of the host family offered up their lives to keep their family safe. Something that was not very focused on was also how willing they were to make their home a place of shelter for the royal family even though they only saw them as equally poor travelers. It was fortunate that Kunti was able to aid them with her son, but I also enjoyed just how pleased she was to see him. Up until now, most family relationships were based around what a family could do or provide. 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 2 Story: Snip Snap Fish Crab

Photo by pieceoflace photography on Flikr.   The pond had been the home for generations of fish. The pond had seen generations of schools, all swimming up to feel the warmth of the sun after being burrowed in eggs on the deep floor. As the years passed, the pond kept losing water, kept losing fish. What was once a booming pool of abundant creatures slowly became a warm puddle with fish that were slowly suffocating. The wild crane, the old and cranky one near the bay, watch the water line dip lower and lower every year. Instead of working hard to catch a few fish every day in a deep pond, he waited. Patiently. He watched the waters evaporate from the now shallow pond and saw the booming schools of fish starting to panic. He smiled to himself, knowing his long-awaited moment was almost here. "I don't know what much else we can do, sir," said Lole, the wisest fish in the pond. "I've never seen anything like it," said Boe, the oldest fish in the pond....
5 comments
Read more

Week 6 Story: Bhima and Hidimbi

Ghatotkacha  by Unknown.  The story of Bhima and Hidimba actually made me feel a bit different compared to all the love stories from the Indian Epics. I wanted to focus on more of the emotional aspect of the couple and decided to write it up!                                                                                                                                                                     This felt different. He felt different.  The large family, in the tattered garment and heavy eyelids, took a seat under the tallest tree in my forest. F...
7 comments
Read more

Brief Introduction Production

Hi! This is what I look like! Photo by Melanie Foster, personal use.  Cheers to a new blog! Ideally, you, the reader, and I, the writer, have never actually met before. Lucky for the both of us, there's much to learn! I truly believe that writing about anything makes one more knowledgeable than before they wrote about it.  While I don't have an eight-course thesis about myself, there are some basic components I would prefer people to know about me before the rest of who I am. Let us begin.  -I hate frogs.  I do not know where this originated from since this feels like a recent phobia. I remember I was not frightened or even close to crying when I dissected a frog in my 7th-grade math class. In fact, I was the leader of my group that did most of the dissecting and identifying of the innards. Now, however, if I see a frog after a rainy day in Norman town, I will cry. Immediately. It's not like anything traumatic happened, I'm just like this now....
5 comments
Read more